Every airport is rammed with business books - the self-help manuals for the modern male - all trying to tell you what exactly it is that makes successful men successful, from The Effective Habits of Highly Effective People to Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. However, when MR PORTER was growing up, Mother Porter always used to say that the most important thing was making a good start to the day - so we decided to monitor the mornings of four leading CEOs and chairmen to see if they offered any clues to how they literally seize the day.

What did we learn? That CEOs are out of bed by 7am. That they love newspapers, hate Twitter and have very specific tastes in radio. That they drink black coffee. That they walk to work more often than most people. That they dress fairly casually. And that, without exception, the first thing they reach for when they open their eyes is their smartphone. Click on the images, above, to find out more...